The year of 2022 ends with a surprise for Horizon Forbidden West fans, as the alpha version of the game was uploaded to a popular PlayStation hacking platform, with the implications and possible consequences being staggering. Despite Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok dominating sales records in 2022, Horizon Forbidden West has still been one of the biggest Playstation launches of the year, and the popularity of the franchise stands as a testament to the unique post-apocalyptic setting that Guerrilla Games developed.
While Horizon Forbidden West is a darling on PlayStation consoles, many fans of the franchise can't wait for the sequel to finally get its PC edition. Horizon Zero Dawn launched in February 2017, and PC players had to wait three and a half years to experience Aloy's journey for themselves when Guerrilla Games released Zero Dawn for the PC in August 2020. Given that Sony hasn't announced any plans to port Forbidden West, it has many fans in the community feeling understandably anxious.
Coupled with the recent leaks that mention Horizon Forbidden West getting a PC version, its full alpha version becoming public opens up the possibility of third parties creating an unofficial PC port. The leaked build was apparently used for remote testing purposes during the pandemic, and as a result, it may contain some potentially interesting content that had to be scrapped for launch or never made the final cut. While users can play this build on any jailbroken PS4, given the DMCAs being handed out to the people posting explicit content from the leaked build, it may be a while until the situation escalates further.
The best case scenario that players can hope for is that the leak allows Horizon modders to attain an even better insight into how the game is built, as well as showing Guerrilla Games the incredible demand for a Horizon Forbidden West PC edition.
Until then, potential fans on PC who may want to give the Horizon franchise a try can purchase Horizon Zero Dawn at a significant discount on Steam until January 5. The complete edition incorporates The Frozen Wilds, an expansion pack for Zero Dawn that can be played at any time during the main story, but is primarily balanced around Level 30. Given recent developments, there's a decent chance that players won't have to wait long for Guerrilla Games to release Forbidden West on the PC (the leaks mention late 2023), meaning that there may be no better time to jump into the franchise than now.
Horizon Forbidden West is available on PS4 and PS5.
Source: Dark Side of Gaming